The first Distinguished Service Award was presented by Superintendent Jon Kilgore on behalf of the Pontiac Township High School Board of Education to Jim Drengwitz at the July meeting. Also discussed were the end of the year budget, the upcoming tentative budget presentation scheduled and the refinancing of the life safety bonds.

The meeting started with a presentation from Jim Drengwitz. He presented the board with a wide-angle photo taken by Patrick Gleason from Simeon High School's first game of the 2012 Holiday Tournament. Drengwitz said Cornell Grade School Superintendent Todd Bean's wife matted and framed the photo and one idea he is tossing around is to possibly use a photo like the one presented for a future fundraiser.

After his presentation, Superintendent Kilgore presented Drengwitz with the first Distinguished Service Award for his service to the high school in terms of organizing community support for the county school facility sales tax, his work as the Holiday Tournament director, continued service to the high school and the community, and service as a member for the PTHS Education Foundation, which raises money for teacher grants that Kilgore noted directly impact learning.

From this meeting forward, the board will continue to identify a person monthly, whether they be on staff, in the community, or work as a volunteer; who provide exceptional service to the school as a way to recognize their efforts.

As was the hope of the board, the goal of being under budget for 2013 was deemed successful as Kilgore reported that although they had projected a deficit of more than $3.7 million, that amount was $224,605 less than anticipated.

"I feel pretty good that we stayed within 1 percent of our expenditures," Kilgore reported.

This year's biggest hit to the annual budget ended up being in transportation, because Kilgore said they were under funded on what they had anticipated by around $62,000 and went over on expenditures by around $38,400.

"We feel good about how things turned out considering the current state of funding in Illinois," said Kilgore. "We would have been on the $300,000 side, or close to it, had our last (general state aid) payment come in before the end of the fiscal year."

These numbers and line items will be used to make up the board's tentative budget for fiscal year 2014 along with fund balances. On Aug. 12, the budget will be presented at 7 p.m. and the public will have 30 days to review it. Budget approval is scheduled for Sept. 12.

"We have our work cut out to see if we can get to the presentation of a balanced budget and hopefully we can stick to that." Kilgore told the board.

Kevin Heid of Stifel-Nicolaus, a brokerage and investment-banking firm, reported to the board that Bank of Pontiac's bid has been chosen for the refinancing of the district's life safety bonds at a face value cost of $1,185,000 with a true interest cost of $2,588,105. The bid will be closed on July 22, and Heid reported that over the course of the five-year bond, it will be saving taxpayers $33,843. While Kilgore said this isn't a huge percentage, he was excited to announce a way that the school can save the taxpayers money. He added that not only will the bond amounts continue to be lowered over the next few years, but also the board plans to commit sales tax funds to the final year, at minimum, to take that off the plate of taxpayers. Heid said the schedule is to have everything paid off in 2017.

Page 2 of 2 - "We took advantage of the low rates right now," Kilgore said.

A future story will cover the board's action on the annual transportation resolution, Eric Bohm's discussion regarding freshmen netbook orientation in July, and Joseph Durbin's presentation regarding the madrigal ensemble's upcoming retreat to Turkey Run State Park scheduled for August.